God, by Degrees

Book excerpt: This book is designed primarily to be a guide to the practicalities of the discipline of theology: a book to help you navigate the world of academic theological study. Nonetheless, we recognise that this study is not done in isolation from the rest of your life since the subject of theology draws on issues that are central to life and faith. Thus we have tried to balance the principles of the study of theology with the practice of the study of theology.With a focus on how you might go about doing an assessment item for one of your theological subjects in the background, this book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Principles, we explore the foundations of theological study - what theology is in all its breadth, what you can expect as you begin study, and how you can sustain yourself in the process. The second part, Planning, describes where you will find your resources, the types of assignments you can expect to encounter, and how to approach them. The third section, Practice, looks at how to write, present and reference your assignments. It is also useful to realise that a theological assignment can have a much longer life than the due date, so the last chapter looks at how you can re-use your work in other settings.The chapters have been written by members of the faculty of the School of Theology in Charles Sturt University, but we hope the content is broad enough to serve new students in many different academic settings.Theology is the study of God, but, like all things related to God, we can never know the whole! The title of the book suggests that not only is theology academic, it is also incremental. You are embarking on a new journey, one that we have found exciting, and we want to provide some helpful signposts even though none of us have yet arrived!